Planting mechanism



C. E. WHITE.

PLANTING MECHANISM.

' APPLICATION FILED IIIAII. 20,4918.

1,369,862. Patented Mar. 1, 1921.

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cHnnLns E. WHITE, or Momma, rLLiNois, AssIeNoR To DEERE a coMrANY, or Monnaie, rLmNois, A coaronarion or ILLINOIS.

PLANTING MECHANISM.

ieeasea To all 'whom it may concern Be it known that I, CHARLES E. WHITE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Moline, in the county of Rock Island and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and Y VThe object is to provide a rotary plate structure with single kernel cells, whose length dimensions can be varied without affecting their depth dimension or their width dimension (measured radially); and maintain the advantageous featureswhich I have introduced into suoli plates by which the kernels in the bottom of a mass are induced to assume flatwise positions before reaching t-he cells, and are compelled to tilt into vertically, without edgewise positions, bridging over-the cell mouths.

Figure l is a plan view of the parts at the bottom of a seedin mechanism embod inoY my improvements;

Fig 2 is a bottom plan view of the two part plate element detached;

Fig. 3 is an edge view of partV of thisf plate element;

Fig. 4f is a vertical longitudinal section on l the line 4 l of Fig. 1. s

Figs. and 6, respectively, show fragmentary parts or" the peripheral portions of the seeder plate elements.

Fig, 7V is a vertical section through the upperplate element on the line 7 7 Fig. 5.

Fig. 8 is a vertical section through the said element, taken on the line 8, 8 of Fig. 5.

The corn is carried in charges or small quantities in a can or receiver 1. This at its lower edge is secured tightly to a ring hav-l ing the upper part 3 which slopes inwardly and the bottom vvertical parte, these constitilting the outer wall ot the passage or channel for the seed. The ycentral cap part 5 is preferably 'formed integral with this outer' ring 3, there being arches 6, 7 connecting the Specification ofb Letters Patent.

to theV ac- Patented Mar. 1, i921.

Application filed March 20, 1918. Serial No. 223,579.V

two parts together. The ring is alsov castv with hinged ears Sby which it is hinged to a pin l9 supported on the base structure below the seed delivering` mechanism and which may be of any well known sort.

The seed plate is positioned below the cap 5. It rests upon the ring plate 10, which in turn is supported on the base structure. A

Fewer is transmitted to the seed plate from. the shaft 11 through the pinion 12 and the ring 13, having gear'teeth 14. n This gear rin has upwardly extending projections 13a -which engage with downwardly turned projections 22"L on the upper element'of the seeder plate. f

The plate rests loosely in thespace between the horizontal planes of the top vof the ring 10 and the bottoni ofthe cap 5, and inside of the ring 3, 4f. It is formed in two parts, one indicated by 15V and the other by 1.6. The part 15 is formed with an upper narrowrhorizontal flange 17, a downwardy and outward tapering flange or wall 18 and a bottom narrow. horizontal flange 19. It is 'also formed with a hollow circular flange or boss 20 which fits loosely but snugly in lthe substantially circular flange or boss 21,

integral with and extending jdown from' the stationaryrap This'boss or circular flange 20 centers the plate in relation to the 3,4 and prevents ythe bottom horizontal part or seed separating lpart of theplate from crushing ,kernels between its edge and v'the stationary ring' wall 4.

Vthejoiiit between ithe two sections of the seeder plate. n

The lower horizontal part 19 of the upper plate element 15 is of peculiar conformation being shaped to have al relatively thick part 241 with an approximately radial and vertical ledge 25 at the rear end of each cell 26. The cells are each adapted to take one kernel only and to have the kernell stand on edge with its flat faces vertical. There aresixteen of these cells in the construction shown,Vv this number, however, being variable to corre'-4 spond with different gearing to varyr the number ofkernels delivered at each planting action, or for other reasons. The kernels at the bottom of a corn mass ioV all tend to take a latwise position horiZon-' tally. That is to say, those that reach, and are pressed upon the cap 5 tend to rest upon it on their ila-t faces and to slide from it onto the inclined wall n vof the upper section l5 oi the plate. Those which travel directly downward from the inass to this inclined wall 18 also tend to rest upon it ilatwise. `When this inclined wall is rotating it assists in agitating the lowermost stratum' oi" kernels7 and assists them in assuming the iiatwise position las they approach the cells; but as the horizontalcross dimensions of the Vcells are considerably less thanthe horizon` tal dimensions of thekernels in ilatwise pof l sition, they inust be induced to depart from that positioninorder to settle edgewise in the cells. Otherwise they will bridge across the upper ends ol the cells, and being` -neld under the weicht oi the superincumbent kernels will reifuse to drop into them and prevent adjacent kernels Vtrom so dropping.

`I chami'er, relatively deeply, the upper surface ofthe bottoni flangedike element 1.9 at points adjacent the rear end ofcach cell7 as shown at 27, this commencing at the inner end of the radial `vertical edge and eX- tending to the other end of the cell. And also chainiier or bevel oil less deeply the metal of the horizontal part l5) at points near the iront end and inauvance oi this cell as at 28, the surfaces 2'? and 28 being substantially continuous. llVhen aV` kernel moving liatwise down the inclined surface of -18 reaches the sharplyangled surface 27, 2S,

it is prevented. Vfrom bridging across` the cell, and its outermost edge drops under the ressui'e of the kernels above it and it setu tles edgewise into the cell. The rear edge wall 25 ot the cell is,` vertically, of approximately the saine width as the corn ken nel and the latter is, while ridingI on its lower narrow e lge pushed by the wall 25 around to andV then under the cutoll 29 and to the drop aperture under y herknock-out at 30. rThis wall 25 at the end or" thei'cll is a con- Y tinuaticii of and integral with a'wall 25a,

which extends along; the inner edge oi the cell. ind these wall sections' 25l extend vertically continuously from the lower part lq'oil' the upper 'plate section to the bottom of the cell, that is, to the bottom horizontal ,cies Vc from the saine ear to the extent of several cells; but each plate has diilleiedlii 'i others in the matter of the length of the hundredths of an inch7 and those of one YSpecies may similarly, in width, vary Yfrom the kernels of another species, the kernels from all of the ears of the species, and the kernels of the various 'species are, within one orftwo hundredths of an inch, or thereabout,

Vsimilar to each other in their shortest, that is, their thickness, dimension. Hence, as is -now well known the widths, radially, of the cells 26 are substantially the saine in all secder plates for corn planters because of the apparent uniformity inthickness of all corn kernels user in planting. also known that the kernels of the various sorts and conformations vary in their width dimension only from l to 5 or 6/100 of an inch, lle'nce if they were all equal in the length dimension a seeder plate having the characteristics of structure above described,

and having cells oranl approximately fixed len th would be sufficient to insure ractically, that each cell would carry one kernel to the delivery point at 30. y v

But experience shows that the kernels ot l one inass orV charge in a receptacle, in their vlength dimension vary considerably from And it is those in ano ther mass or charge therein; and 1 that those in a mass oi' one species oic corn may vary from those in another mass; and that the kernels of a given species may7 iiv Y grown in one season, diilerin their length dimensions from those grown in another season. VAnd because of these facts the cells ci a seecer plate require one length dimensionV to meet one set of conditions and another to meet other conditions.

lleretolore, this matter has beenzmet by providinga relatively large number of plates i"or each planter machine. these plates is similar to the others so tar as concerns the i'adialwidth of the cells and as concerns the devices for inducing the wider kernels and the narrow ones (consid ering their iat faces) to all enter the/same LT Lil@ cells, some being designated as sinallg others as medium and others as -,large, these terms meaning 'that the plates are similar to each other as concerns the cell'sexcept in respect to the length dimension. f

At least six plates must be furnished with each machine to meet these variations.

@ne oi" the obiects of thepresent invention being to reduce the number of parts in, and

the costr et af plantingl mecl'ianisin, and to simplify the apparatus, l furnish one set of plates to meet all variations in the kernels.

its already remarked each seeding plate is made in two sections,- 159- and 16, the section l5 having been above jlfully desc bed. The lower section 16 is in the foi-1n oi a plate 3l. with diametric bars32 intersecting at the center `and peripheral projectionsor teeth 33. At the center there is iormedan Each oic integral circular iiange or hollow-boss 34. It lits snugly but rotatably around the sleeve or boss 23 on the upper section 15 Vol! the plate. The two sections are rigidly clamped by a central bolt 85, whose head and nut tightly Bind them together, the head bearing against the upper section and the nut 86 against the lower. It the nut 36 is loosened, these sections 15 and 16 can be rotated, more or less, 'lior adjustment, and then again rigidly clamped together. The number of the peripheral projections or teet is equal to thc number oit the cells. Each tooth is of a total width, peripherally, equaly to 0r less than the width of each tooth-like part on the upper section 15, that is, each projection between `the radii ot the edges 25 and 37. Between each tooth 33 and the next there is a peripheral recess in the lower section which extends in to the edge 38, positioned well inside of the inner edge of the cell in the upper section 15, so that the metal ot the lower section 16 will not modify the width. of the cell, under any adjustment of the sections. Again, each tooth 38 is 'formed with a peripheral projection 39, which can be held positioned under the metal con` stituting the tooth-like projection on the upper section, or can be adjusted so as to v extend peripherally backward from the front end edge 4:0 of a cell in the upper section.

That is to say, the peripherally projecting parts 89 on the teeth 33 of the lower plate section 16 can all be set so as to shorten the length dimension of each of the cells measured -forward from the edges 25 on the tooth-like parts of the upper section. Each of these teeth y33 and its projection 89 extend through one of the wall spaces 25b between a wall section2 and the adjacent wall section 25a on the upper plate section, and all of the teeth lie in the horizontal planes of said wall sections.

It the kernels in the mass vin the receptacle or hopper are, generally throughout the mass, longer or shorter than the kernels oi another mass, the devices described furnish provision for so fixing the length oi the cells that they shall compensate tor this difference in the average length oi' the kernels, After loosening nut 36 the lower sectionY can, relatively to the upper section. be moved forward in relation to the direction ot rotation, or backward a few hundredths of an inch, measured at the periphery; and in this way cells can be 1provided which will receive the kernels without an unfilled or unoccupied space being left at either end of a cell wherein the point parts of kernels can wedge or enter. l I am aware that two part plateshave been proposed tor varying the length dimensions of the seed cells. But. l believe myself to be the rst to have provided a seeder plate which is constructed to 'furnish the. relatirely'lon` tapered or sloping wall 18 adapted to induce the kernels in the peripheral part oi the lower stratum of the mass vto take a flatwise position at points near t-he cells; and to have introduced devices, such as thecutaway surface at 27, 28, to prevent the kernels from bridging flatwise across the narrow cell mouths; and then while retain-` ing the standard dimension, radially considered, ior the cell, to have made provision for preventing the` occurrence of unoccupied regions in the cellsat the ends when the kernels are relatively short; said plate mechanism being adapted oruse both in planting relatively long kernels and in planting -thosethat are relatively short.

What vI claim is:

l 1. In a corn planting mechanism, a rota-ry` two section seederfplate having at the periphery seed cells each open at the outer side, and each having a verticallyV continuous wall extending trom the bottom to the top of the cell along the inner side thereof,

' and at thev end, the upper section of the plate being integral with the said vertical walls, and the lower section having a series ot' relatively backward extending proJections in the horizontal planes of the said walls and said lower section being adjustable to vary the positions of said projections relatively to the ends of the cells in the upper section ktovarythe length dimensions Vof the said cells. Y

2. In a corn planting mechanism, a rotary two section seeder plate, the upper sectionA having outwardly open seed cells in its periphery, each cell having at the inner side and at one end a vertical wall extending continuously from the vupper section to the bottom plane of the seeds when in the cells, and the lower section having a series or projections at its periphery adapted to be' adjusted lengthwise of the cells and positioned in the horizontal planes of the Said walls.

3. In a planting mechanism of the class described, the combination with the receptacle and the stationary bottom structure having an approximately vertical wall, oli"rv ed to be adjustably moved past the last said cell walls to vary the cells. v

4. In a corn planter, a seed plate having the length dimension of integral bottom flange-like element 19 formed with peripheral cells each adapted to hold a single corn kernel edgewise and the outward sloping element 18 and the l fered surface being adapted to tilt kernels to Vertical positions edgewise, after'being partially tilted by the sloping element 18, sub- 10 stantially as described.

In testimony whereof I afx my signature.

CHARLES E. WHITE. 

